Tag: cinema

As promised! The Horrible Imaginings Podcast has picked up an esteemed and brilliant new semi-regular co-host! He has been known for his collaborative work in novels and anthologies including The Light at the End, The Scream, Animals, and Book of the Dead. He publishes the work of other talented authors with his imprint Fungasm Press. Along with his co-director Andrew Kasch, he has also directed two short films that played Horrible Imaginings Film Festival: Stay at Home Dad and ClownTown: Bombo and Flopsy in an Honest Mis-Stake, as well as a segment for the Halloween anthology film Tales of Halloween. Many of you know by now that I am talking about John Skipp.
Skipp was a special guests at the latest Horrible Imaginings Film Festival in September--as a panelist on our "Horror in Literature" panel, and as a reader during our campfire-style readings of horror stories on the Botanical Lawn in Balboa Park, alongside such great talents as Laura Lee Bahr, Brian Evenson, Cody Goodfellow, and Ross E. Lockhart. It was during his time at the festival, and during some of the conversations we had, that I thought he would be a great semi-regular co-host for the podcast, since he is quite adept at our regular mission of exploring horror in history, art, literature, film, and beyond!
Skipp also came to me because he wanted to show some of the films he saw at Horrible Imaginings at a showcase he was programming for Portland, Oregon's Bizarro Con. I decided this should be a perfect first podcast episode for him--what is Bizarro, what is the convention like, and so on! I also decide to discuss his notions about the art of horrible people, which is also the title of his 2015 short story anthology!
Subscribe to the Horrible Imaginings Podcast right here. You can also listen here on Dread Central or on the Horrible Imaginings Website. You can help keep the podcast, the film festival, and our horror community going for only $1 per month!Become a patron on Patreonfor exclusive content and perks! Find out about San Diego horror events on our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, and always stay scared!

As promised in the episode, here are some book trailers from Fungasm Press!

https://vimeo.com/139976849

Subscribe to the Horrible Imaginings Podcast right here. You can also listen here on Dread Central or on the Horrible Imaginings Website. You can help keep the podcast, the film festival, and our horror community going for only $1 per month! Become a patron on Patreon for exclusive content and perks! Find out about San Diego horror events on our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, and always stay scared!

Last week, Horrible Imaginings presented a week of screenings of the new documentary Elstree 1976 at the Digital Gym Cinema here in San Diego, California. During the Saturday night screening, director Jon Spira graciously agreed to talk to the theater after the screening for a Q&A via Skype. What this meant for him was setting the alarm clock for 3:30 AM in the UK. It was an engrossing conversation, but Elstree 1976 wasn't the last film on the schedule that night and our Q&A was cut short. Partly because of this, I decided to contact Jon again on my own for a more in-depth podcast episode. What I got was one of the most involving and sincere conversations about cinema I've ever had. This could be one of the podcasts I am most proud of.

Incidentally, while editing last night I heard Jon pronounce his last name and I realized that I have been mispronouncing it for a very long time. I've been saying "Spira" with the Spanish "i": "Speera." I think it is correctly pronounced with a long "i." Sorry about that, Jon!

Anyway, as I was saying, this is an epic episode. As with the documentary Elstree 1976, it is more reflective and meditative, more philosophical. Listening to it again last night was an almost cathartic and intense experience. As you all know, yesterday was also the day we all found out about the ruinous mass shooting in Orlando where 50 people lost their lives. It was impossible not to have that on the back of my mind while editing this podcast, where Jon and I talk meticulously about how "every life is interesting" and how focusing on any one person in the crowd will reveal a beautifully complex and full life. The juxtaposition of these thoughts and the knowledge that 50 such lives were ruthlessly gunned down was an intoxicating emotional roller coaster. I have to dedicate this episode--one I am extremely proud of--to the people who lost their lives in Orlando yesterday.

Here are some of the main things we talk about:
1: Jon's most important interview project
2: The Q&A at Digital Gym Cinema
3: Unbelievable exhuastion
4: The challenge of depicting without exploiting
5: Documentarians and their power of manipulation
6: Truth Vs. Perspective
7: In defense of "talking heads"
8: The power of the close up on a human face
9: Infantilized culture
10: The internet age of film criticism
11: Audience expectations vs. challenging audiences
12: I DO go to bat for indie horror!

It has been a bit of a hiatus since our last episode while I take care of some health problems, but hopefully I can attack 2016 with regained vigor and enthusiasm. This will be the final episode of 2015, and what better way to endcap the year on a film festival podcast than with a conversation all about independent film production? Joining me for this conversation are Ben Steiner and Dan Dixon of the UK-based Fume Films, whose short film THE STOMACH took home an Horrible Imaginings trophy back in 2014.

Now, while we talk about independent filmmaking in some general terms that should interest anyone who wants to hear about the process, it will help if listeners have seen some of Fume Films' output in order to give this episode some more context. These are excellent and creatively original short films well worth your time. THE STOMACH is the film that took home our trophy for best Paranormal short film. You can watch it on iTunes for just a couple of bucks! Click the poster for a direct link to that download:

Coming October 1st and 2nd to Price Center Theater on UCSD Campus!

A closer look at horror!

In a scholarly essay entitled Supernatural Horror in Literature, early 20th century horror author HP Lovecraft opens by stating “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear. . .” It is an interesting claim that he says “few psychologists will dispute,” and his adhering to that philosophy has helped make him one of the most influential contemporary authors of what was once termed “weird fiction,” inspiring people from Joyce Carol Oates to Stephen King to Neil Gaiman. A survey of art, literature, and, more contemporarily, film would suggest that Lovecraft was onto something when claiming fear is the strongest and more enduring emotion of the human condition.

Horror, often demonized as base, exploitative, or pernicious, is fertile ground for the exploration of fear. Many people’s discomfort with the genre can be seen as a sign of its potency as a mirror to our dark sides. It is also notable that it is appealing and lucrative ground for attracting a large audience. In the world of film, horror was one of the first genres to be adapted to that new and mystifying medium. Thomas Edison himself is responsible for a version of Frankenstein as far back as 1910. Since that time, it has ever been a staple in filmmaking.

This October, Horrible Imaginings Film Festival is joining forces with UCSD’s ArtPower! Film to bring an exploration of horror in art and cinema to UCSD campus. How does the presentation of fear evolve, and how does it reflect the particular fears of society at a particular point in time? These ideas will be explored over two different evenings!

Note: This event is IN ADDITION to the main Horrible Imaginings Film Festival, which will take place on November 10th and 11th! So much scariness, so little time!